Illustration by Avery Nelson

Naloxone, often referred to by the brand name Narcan, is a medication designed to be administered to those experiencing an opioid overdose. When one experiences an overdose, the primary medical concern is that breathing will slow down and stop. Naloxone helps prevent this. In the context of an emerging opioid crisis in the UK, as has been seen in the US, saving people’s lives should ultimately be the first priority. Despite this, two of our police forces still refuse to carry the life-saving drug. 

Both Greater Manchester and Suffolk police forces refuse to let their officers carry naloxone. Even in the parts of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, where the forces do allow it, the decision to carry it is up to individual officers’ discretion. In Scotland, it is mandatory for police officers to carry naloxone; however, it is still up to each officer as to whether or not they administer it to someone overdosing. 

This raises concerns, for me at least, as to what exactly the police’s job is. Most people might say that it is to protect our communities. But when they refuse to save the public’s lives using naloxone in the first place, how exactly are they protecting any of us? Furthermore, opioid use is an issue that is heavily influenced by class, where people from low-income backgrounds have the highest rates of use, and are nine times as likely to die from an overdose compared to those from more privileged backgrounds. So, for me, the fact of the matter is that the police don’t care about the livelihoods of poor people. If they did, they would carry and administer naloxone and save lives doing so. To have the option to do so and to refuse is plainly evil.

When police officers are often the first responders to an overdose, it is crucial that they have the ability to save a person’s life before paramedics arrive (not to mention how baffling it is that the police are sent to these events in the first place). In what world are police officers called to cases of overdoses before literal paramedics with medical training and the ability to save lives? 

This also links to wider issues within our society of how we perceive those who take drugs. Multiple studies have confirmed a long-standing bias against those who take or are addicted to drugs. This could be for multiple reasons, including, yes, a belief that they are dangerous or will harm you in some way, and although this is not always false, we should look at the issue broadly with more compassion for our fellow human beings. These are often some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who have been taken advantage of to make money, and given a high that will soothe their pain. Unsurprisingly, these stigmas do nothing to help addicts and ultimately just push them further into the dark. When studies show that plenty of police officers hold stigmatising views on drug users, how can we expect them to be saved?

So while, yes, police officers should carry and use naloxone to save opioid addicts’ lives, we need to reevaluate how we view and treat these addicts long before they get to the point of overdose. The treatment by the public, stigmatisation, and most importantly, social poverty, all make addiction more deadly. In order to prevent people from slipping down these dark paths, we must review the causes of addiction in the first place. Addiction is most commonly used as a form of escapism, which is rather unsurprising given the world around us; we don’t care about each other, and often things seem hopeless. But, before you start calling up a dealer and grabbing a needle, you must remember that we still have the ability to change the world. If we organise politically, build stronger local communities, and work together to change, we can make a world that people don’t want to escape. It starts with you.